Family ‘so grateful’ for op trip help

Georgia Mladenovic rings the bell at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville, Florida, to signal the end of her treatment for a brain tumour.

Published:16:49Thursday 31 May 2018

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The family of a schoolgirl bravely coping with a life-threatening brain tumour have thanked all the people who helped them travel forground-breaking treatment in America.

Georgia Mladenovic, 15, a student of Hodgson Academy in Poulton, has returned from Jacksonville in Florida where she underwent 35 sessions of proton beam therapy over two months.

Georgia Mladenovic, with mum Sarah Cause.

Although the treatment, the flights and the costs of accommodation for Georgia and her mum were paid for by the NHS, the pair were desperate for the whole family to join them for moral support.

In just three months the appeal raised an incredible £13,571 on a gofundme page alone, in addition to other fund-raisers.

Mum Sarah Cause, 38, of Great Eccleston, says they would never have been able to make the journey without the generous support of her school, friends and even complete strangers.

She said: “We just want to thank everyone who donated to the fundraising page and arranged and attended fundraising events.

“Without everyone’s kindness and generosity it would not of been possible for my partner Martin Lord, our three-year-old daughter Charlie and eight-month-old son Benjamin to join us out there for the last fives weeks.

“It was very difficult being so far away from them for the first three weeks.”

Georgia’s dad Phil Mladenovic, of Blackpool, was also able to visit her for 10 days, as the teen faced up to treatment at the UF Health Proton Therapy Institute in Jacksonville.

Sarah added: “Georgia managed her treatments very well with minimal side effects. She did suffer from nausea and headaches but this was treated with medication provided through the proton centre from oncologists at a nearby children’s hospital. They really looked after us at the centre.”

Now Georgia and her family have to wait to see how the tumour progresses and if the treatment has worked - it could even be a wait of five years.

In the meantime she remains in the care of Christie Hospital and Manchester Children’s Hospital, where she will have MRI scans and follow up appointments to monitor the tumour

Indeed, Christie is developing its own proton beam therapy unit, which means that by early next year, trips across the Atlantic may no longer be needed for patients here in the UK.